Thanks for that link -- it was exactly what I was looking for...a way to include my jetty-env.xml in the development mode launch.
However, after reading the article and seeing how complex the set up is...and thinking about your comment about always using the exact same server for development as for production I think I am going to punt on this idea and just use my own server. We already have a Maven cargo configuration that runs our server app with Tomcat and Jetty.
Thanks again for the help though.
Dave